Read Iggy Pop’s Heartfelt Letter to a Fan

Many, if not most, rock fans have felt the pain of writing an impassioned fan letter to a favorite musician and receiving nothing (or, even worse, a form letter) in response. But as one Iggy Pop fan discovered in 1995, sometimes even the biggest stars read their mail.

Letters of Note has the story, which started when a Parisian woman named Laurence penned a 20-page letter to Pop in which she shared her innermost feelings -- not only about his music, but about "being the child of an acrimonious divorce with the string of social workers, lawyers, greedy estate agents and bailiffs at the door, the fear, the anger, the frustration, the love."

Nine months later, just as Laurence's family was about to be evicted from their home, Pop's lengthy handwritten response arrived in the mail. "By the time I finished I was in tears," she later wrote, and it isn't hard to see why. Take a look at the transcript below, and turn it up a little louder the next time you play one of his records -- this is a beautiful bit of outreach from an artist who clearly hasn't forgotten what it's like to be a fan.

thankyou for your gorgeous and charming letter, you brighten up my dim life. i read the whole f---ing thing, dear. of course, i'd love to see you in your black dress and your white socks too. but most of all i want to see you take a deep breath and do whatever you must to survive and find something to be that you can love. you're obviously a bright f---ing chick, w/ a big heart too and i want to wish you a (belated) HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY 21st b'day and happy spirit. i was very miserable and fighting hard on my 21st b'day, too. people booed me on the stage, and i was staying in someone else's house and i was scared. it's been a long road since then, but pressure never ends in this life. 'perforation problems' by the way means to me also the holes that will always exist in any story we try to make of our lives. so hang on, my love, and grow big and strong and take your hits and keep going.
all my love to a really beautiful girl. that's you laurence.